


It's My Honour

by ChibiAyane



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 22:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/615289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiAyane/pseuds/ChibiAyane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different take on the conclusion to The End of Time. The Doctor almost dies, but the Master saves him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's My Honour

"Get out of the way!" the Doctor told the Master. The Master dove to the side and with one shot, the Doctor destroyed the White Point Star and broke the Link. "The Link is broken! Back into the Time War, Rassilon! Back into Hell!" the Doctor shouted.

"You'll die with me, Doctor!" Rassilon growled and raised his gauntlet covered hand.

"I know," the Doctor muttered.

"Get out of the way!" the Master hissed. The Master shot Rassilon in the chest with a bolt of Artron Energy. "You did this to me! All of my life!" He shot another bolt at him. "You made me!" Another bolt. "One!" And another. "Two!" Another. "Three!" And one last. "Four!"

The Time Lock was closing and the Master was going to be on the wrong side of it. 

"No!" the Doctor said under his breath. He ran forward and grabbed the back of the Master's hoody. He yanked the Master and himself back and out of the Time Lock, on the proper side, just in time before it closed. The ground trembled as the Time Lords and Gallifrey were sucked back into the Time War, to their inevitable fate. The Doctor and the Master were thrown to the floor by the sheer force of it. They landed in a heap, almost on top of each other.

The shaking stopped, the Doctor rolled to the side and sat up. The Master was out cold, from the strain of severing the link in his head and exhausting his stores of artron energy on defeating Rassilon.

"I'm alive," the Doctor muttered, his eyes full of relief and wonder. "I'm still alive." He started laughing breathily. The Doctor sighed with relief and sobbed a little while laughing at the same time. His relief ended and changed to horror when he heard it.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

He looked up and frowned, fear in his eyes.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

He sat up and turned slowly. The Master started to stir at his side.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

He turned towards the tapping.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

He saw Wilfred in the radiation booth and was filled with sadness. All that time he had thought...but it wasn't the Master. It was Wilfred who knocked four times.

He looked the old man in the eye and saw fear reflected back at him. Only for a different reason.

"They gone then?" Wilfred asked. "Yeah, Good-o. If you could let me out?"

"Yeah," the Doctor answered uncertainly.

"I mean," Wilfred looked around anxiously. "This thing seems to be making a bit of a noise."

"The Master left the nuclear bolt running." The Doctor stood and looked down to the mostly unconscious Time Lord on the floor. He looked up at Wilfred. "It's gone into overload."

"And that's bad is it?"

"No. 'Cause all the excess radiation gets vented inside there." The Doctor nodded at the radiation booth. The Master slowly awoke, opening his eyes even slower. He could hear the Doctor talking. "Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand RADs about to flood that thing."

“Well, you better let me out then.”

“Except it’s gone critical.” The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat. “Touch one control and it floods.” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and weighed it in his hand. “Even this would set it off.”

“I’m sorry,” Wilfred said with regret.

“Sure,” the Doctor mouthed. The Master sat up and looked around.

“Isn’t there any way he can open it?” Wilfred asked, nodding at the Master.

“No. Like I said,” the Doctor told him. “Touch one control and it goes off.” The Master looked a little warily at the Doctor. He could see where this was going.

Wilfred Mott sighed. “Look, just leave me,” he said.

The Doctor looked at Wilfred, tears in his eyes and trying desperately not to let them fall. “Okay, right then, I will.” The Doctor started pacing around, turning away and then turning back. “’Cause you had to go in there, didn’t you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes!” he started to raise his voice.

The Master was startled by the Doctor’s cruel outburst. He’s never seen the Doctor act this way before.

“’Cause that’s who you are, Wilfred.” The Doctor sobbed. “You were always this,” his voice started to crack, tears welling ever more in his eyes. “Waiting for me all this time.”

“No, really. Just leave me.” Wilfred waved his hands. “I’m an old man, Doctor. I’ve had my time.”

“Well, exactly. Look at you!” the Doctor shouted. “Not remotely important!” This outburst surprised the Master even more. “But me?! I could do so much more!” The Doctor started pacing around some more. “SO MUCH MORE!” he bellowed. “But this is what I get.” He leaned his hands on a desk. “My reward. Well, it’s not fair!” he shouted. He sweeped everything from the desk and onto the floor in a fit of rage.

The sound of several helicopters getting closer could be heard, most likely heading for the Naismith Mansion and with the Doctor’s use of past-tense, the Master tried to stand up to start his escape but failed and fell back onto his bum again. “Doctor, don’t you dare!” he pleaded in a dangerous tone. He made it onto all fours and tried to stand again. He didn’t want his old friend and best enemy to do what he knew he was going to do just to save one tiny little human. “Doctor!” His plea was ignored.

The Doctor was breathing heavily. He sighed. “Ooh, lived too long,” he muttered to himself. He stepped towards the radiation booth, slowly making his way over to the opposite side from where Wilfred was trapped.

“Doctor, no!” the Master shouted.

Wilfred looked like he was going to cry. “No. No, no, please! Please don’t! No, don’t! Don’t! Please DON’T! Please?!” Wilfred pleaded, trying not to cry.

The Doctor looked at Wilfred, his face full of sadness and humility. “Wilfred, it’s my honour!” he said, giving a small smile. “Better be quick!” He opened the door to the other side and stepped in. 

“No!” the Master yelled, making it to his feet rather precariously. He found his footing and tried to walk over to the Doctor, to stop him from doing something the Master considered extremely stupid but he was too slow. He was already angry with himself for manufacturing this situation that even he couldn’t solve. He had pushed the Doctor to do this, he had left him no choice.

The Doctor pressed the button that released Wilfred and the radiation immediately began to tear his very cells apart. He slowly sank to the floor, groaning in pain while the radiation tore him apart. He started to bleed from his ears, eyes, nose and nail beds. He curled up into a ball, convulsing in pain.

Wilfred stood there crying, with no way to help the wonderful alien, the wonderful friend in front of him. He watched, because he felt he had to. The Master made it over to the booth and tried to open the door, when he couldn't, he started banging on the glass and screaming.

The radiation booth went dead, all the lights went out. The Doctor lay on the floor, unmoving. The Master stopped and stood there watching, waiting, hoping.

A minute passed and the Doctor still didn't budge. He lay there still, in a puddle of his own blood.

At that moment, Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper came bursting into the room, guns drawn. They were followed my Martha Jones and about a dozen UNIT soldiers, all armed and their guns at the ready. They had apparently been the ones in the helicopters they had heard.

"You!?" Jack said incredulously and angrily to the Master. "What the hell are you doing here!? How are you alive?!" The Master paid him no heed. He just stood there hands on the glass and staring at the Doctor's broken form. Wilfred stood their crying.

"He's not regenerating," the Master muttered. Suddenly, the Master went completely mad. The Master started banging on the glass door, kicking it and yelling "No!" repeatedly, between bangs and kicks on the glass. "No, no, no, no!" He yanked on the handle of the door, jiggling it and yelling some more. "You stupid old man!" He banged the glass with his fist. "Only you would do something this pathetic!" He kicked the door one more time. The door remained stuck fast. It wouldn't open and the glass wouldn't break.

Jack and Martha finally looked in the booth and saw the familiar brown suit and wild hair of the Doctor lying curled up and motionless on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Doc?" Jack said quietly, worry and sadness falling over his features.

"Oh, my god! Doctor!?" Martha stepped forward for a better look. She started crying, she dropped her gun and put her hands on the glass.

"Wha-What the hell happened?" Jack asked the Master and Wilfred both. "What the hell did you do?!" he shouted at the Master.

"The Doctor went in there to save me," Wilfred said, sniffling with tears running down his cheeks. "I was stuck in that side." He nodded to the other side of the booth. "The radiation was going to flood and the only way to get me out was for someone to go in the other side and unlock it."

Tears formed in Jack's eyes and Martha's tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"He's not regenerating!" the Master yelled, angry and frantic. He bent and picked up Martha's gun, then stood and shoved Martha away from the glass. Jack raised his gun to aim it at the Master's head, but stayed his hand when the Master raised Martha's gun and shot the lock on the glass door. He shoved the gun into Martha's hands and wrenched the door open. He grabbed the Doctor's arms and dragged him roughly out of the booth.

The Doctor layed out before them, Jack and Martha got a good look at the Doctor's state. Covered in scrapes and bruises and drenched in blood. They couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. Martha went to check his vitals, but the Master shoved her away and did it himself. He felt the Doctor's hearts were still beating, they were failing and his pulse was faint but it was there.

"Still there," the Master muttered. "But too far gone to regenerate on his own." He needed to wake the Doctor, bring him back just enough for him to decide to regenerate. Regeneration was a mental process after all, it needed permission to happen.

"Well, do something!" Martha yelled at him. The Master started to rub his hands together, working up the energy. "What is that?" she asked, sounding a bit scared.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked. Jack was confused and becoming even more so. The Master usually wants to kill the Doctor, so why does it seem like he is trying to save him? And what the hell is that energy in his hands?

"Let's just say, I'm giving the Doctor a jump," the Master answered, not looking at them and keeping his eyes trained on the Doctor. He worked his hands faster and faster, his skull flashing blue every now and again. Jack and Martha had backed off when he started doing that. 

When the Master's hands were sparking with energy and glowing blue, he raised his hands and brought them down onto the Doctor's chest in a hard punch to his hearts. The energy spread over the Doctor's body, jolting him awake and making him shout in pain. The Doctor's eyes were startled and filled agony when the golden regeneration energy started to glow on his face. The regeneration energy engulfed him and flared it's brightest. The Doctor screamed and Jack, Martha and Wilfred cringed as they watched in wonder.

The energy died away and the Doctor stopped screaming. The Master, Jack, Martha and Wilfred were all smiling when the Doctor looked at them. Breathing heavily, the Doctor grinned and asked in a new voice, "Well? Am I ginger?"

END


End file.
